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The clubhouse was quiet by the time I made it back. I stayed gone, knowing the longer I was gone, it would give her plenty of time to do what she needed with the house and the kids. When I told her I didn’t care, I meant it. That shit didn’t interest me. As long as Elizabeth had everything she needed, I didn’t care if the woman painted the house black and blue.
To me, the house was just a place to sleep. It was more Elizabeth’s house than mine. I built the damn thing because she wanted it.
Tired and hungry, Sandman, Shadow and I walked into the clubhouse only to have all the brothers lined up and waiting, with Ghost standing in the middle of them staring daggers at me. Stopping, I looked about the room and saw the hostility raging from my brothers.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your outburst before you bolted. The ladies heard you. More importantly, Linsey heard you. That woman has had her life turned upside down and you shit on her.”
“Fuck,” I groaned. This was bad. I didn’t know she heard my outburst. I rarely lost my temper and, of all the times to do so, the one woman I never wanted to hurt heard me say some vile shit. She was supposed to be living in my house. How was I going to look her in the eye after everything she heard? As much as I meant the words, I never wanted to hurt her.
“That ride clear your head?” Ghost growled, taking a few steps towards me.
“Yeah.”
“Good, then you will understand when I do this.”
Before I could even think of what he meant, Ghost hauled off and punched me in the face, knocking me back a few steps. Rubbing my jaw, I glared at the man as he seethed. “What’s the number one rule of this club?”
“What?”
“You heard me. Answer me!” He shouted.
“A brother will honor and protect all women regardless of if they are ol’ ladies or not. A brother will offer help when needed and protect every woman and child to the best of his abilities.”
“Exactly,” Ghost shouted, before punching me again. If I thought the first punch hurt, the second one had me seeing stars. “Now tell me Vicious, did you uphold the number one rule of this club?”
“No,” I moaned, knowing what was coming next. Fuck me. The rules were clear. I was so deep in my head, I didn’t think before I spoke, not caring who was around. That was on me. I fucked up. I knew that. What bothered me more was that Linsey heard what I said. There was no taking back those words.
God, what she must think of me now?
“Sorry brother,” Bayou said, punching me in the stomach before stepping away as Bullseye stepped forward.
“Next time, keep it in church,” the club assassin said before taking a swing. Each brother had their turn. Each held nothing back and when it was just Sandman standing, I moaned. “Jesus fuck.”
“Grovel,” the mute fucker advised, before hauling off and slamming his fist in my face. The force of his punch sent me flying backwards as I landed hard on my back. There wasn’t a spot on my body that didn’t hurt. I was going to be black and blue for weeks thanks to my fucking mouth.
Rolling onto my side, I lay there as brothers scattered, leaving me in the mess I created. In all my years, never, not once, had anyone put me in my place. Not even my parents or grandfather. Until today, I lived a relatively quiet life. Yeah, I had a daughter that I loved and adored, but nothing ever really bothered me. Not even when my parents and grandfather died. When the last of my family died, I shut down. I closed off that part of my head and moved on. The day I sold my grandfather’s company, I packed what I needed on my bike and left. I stopped feeling anything. I couldn’t. I was never good with words. I never really knew what to say to anyone. Being a nomad allowed me to continue without caring about anything.
Then my daughter happened.
Elizabeth was the first person since my parents and grandfather died that I actually gave a damn about someone. Even then, I knew I couldn’t stay with her permanently. That’s why I bought her that damn school. I would visit regularly and spend time with her, but when my feelings started getting the better of me, I left. Though a small part of me always felt bad about leaving her, I knew I couldn’t give her what she really needed because I never had it.
How could I give my daughter a loving home when my experience with that left me alone? I didn’t want my daughter to grow up feeling like I did, so I surrounded her with women and girls who could give her the semblance of a family.
It was wrong of me. I knew that. Just like I knew, I should have given her up for adoption when she was born. I had no business taking on a newborn baby girl. But one look at her and I knew I wanted to keep her. I just didn’t know what to do with her.
Now, she was here with me every day. Elizabeth loved the clubhouse, the brothers, the ol’ ladies, and all the kids. For the first time since she was born, she finally had the family I could never give her. Then Linsey showed up and all those feelings I had from before reared their ugly head and started messing with me.
I couldn’t look at the woman without wanting more.
The only problem I had with that was I didn’t know what more meant. I knew I wanted to talk to her. Get to know her. I wanted to listen to her laugh and watch as she smiled. I wanted to watch her hug my daughter and help her when Elizabeth was stuck on a problem. I wanted to know what her hand felt like in mine. Did she really smell like wildflowers on a dewy morning? Was her skin as soft as it looked? Mainly, I wanted to wrap her in my arms and kiss away her tears. Seeing her cry last night damn neared killed me. It took everything in me not to pull her towards me and promise her I would take care of everything.
Instead of showing her compassion, I let my fear overwhelm me. Now I was going to have to walk into my daughter’s house and face what I had done, and I didn’t know what to say or do.
A hand appeared before me. Looking up, I saw Reaper standing before me, offering me his hand. Taking it, he helped me to my feet. Out of all my brothers, Reaper was the only one who didn’t take his pound of flesh.
